Massachusetts community banker John H. Pearson Jr. could not be happier about the pending sale of Countrywide Financial Corp.

Provident Bankshares Corp. in Baltimore is expected to report a fourth-quarter loss Thursday as a result of a large writedown in its real estate investment trust portfolio and weakness in its real estate loan portfolio.

Savannah Bancorp Inc. in Georgia said Thursday that its loan-loss provision in the fourth quarter was six times higher than anticipated due to a surge in nonperforming loans.

William A. Donius, the president and chief executive officer of Pulaski Financial Corp. in St. Louis, is joining the Federal Reserve Board's Thrift Advisory Council, the company has announced.

Jack Treanor, the president and chief operating officer of Washington Trust Bancorp Inc., said he believes in making bold changes.

MIDWEST

Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc. in Norfolk, Va., announced Wednesday that it has a deal to buy Shore Financial Corp. in Onley, Va., for about $55 million in cash and stock.

Even a flurry of profit warnings from Oregon banks in the last week could not prepare investors and analysts for the bomb West Coast Bancorp dropped late Tuesday.

Mercantile Bank Corp. in Grand Rapids, Mich., announced Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell nearly 98% due largely to an increase in nonperforming assets.

View the top 150 community banks with the largest portfolios of home equity loans.

A Cape Fear Bank Corp. investor who had been pressuring it to sell itself to another banking company has identified a potential buyer: himself.

MutualFirst Financial Inc. in Muncie, Ind., announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy the $510 million-asset MFB Corp. of Mishawaka, Ind., for $52.7 million in cash and stock.

Iberiabank Corp. of Lafayette, La., said Tuesday that its nonperforming loans surged in the fourth quarter, largely because of weakness in the housing markets served by its Arkansas bank.

For the second time in six months, credit unions have found themselves defending their tax-exempt status to Bush administration officials who are examining the impact of corporate tax breaks on the nation's global competitiveness.

Pacific Continental Corp. in Eugene, Ore., said Monday that it expects to post fourth-quarter earnings of 28 cents a share, or 2 cents shy of the average of analysts' estimates, because of problem residential construction loans.

IronStone Bank, a Fort Myers, Fla., thrift subsidiary of the $16.3 billion-asset First Citizens Bancshares Inc. of Raleigh, entered the Kansas City, Mo., area last month with a loan production office it plans to turn into a branch this quarter, a spokesman said Monday.

Now that Guaranty Bank in Austin no longer turns over most of its earnings to a corporate parent, the $16 billion-asset thrift will be able to reinvest in itself.

Bradford Bancorp Inc.'s deal to buy another Maryland thrift is officially off.

Two Massachusetts mutual thrifts, Norwood Co-operative Bank and Walpole Co-operative Bank, have agreed to merge.